![]() ![]() In addition to the blockbuster lawsuit filed against Facebook last week, the U.S. This year alone has brought major lawsuits against tech companies. He said the company is undergoing an internal investigation into the matter. This summer, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple's Tim Cook testified virtually before Congress about Silicon Valley's perceived monopoly power.ĭuring this hearing, Bezos acknowledged the $1 trillion company may be misusing data to push out independent sellers. The newspaper also recently revealed that Amazon was scooping up data from independent sellers and using it to create its own competing products. The Wall Street Journal has reported on how apps share user information with Facebook. Lawmakers and civil and consumer rights groups have placed Big Tech under the microscope this year in particular, following revelations showing questionable practices by major websites and apps. In a statement, Phillips wrote, "The breadth of the inquiry, the tangential relationship of its parts, and the dissimilarity of the recipients combine to render these orders unlikely to produce the kind of information the public needs, and certain to divert scarce Commission resources better directed elsewhere." Republican Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips dissented. The commissioners voted to issue Monday's orders in a 4-1 vote. The inquiry also asks the social media and video streaming companies to hand over information on how they process the data collected and how advertising and engagement practices impact young, underage users. The commission wants the tech companies to detail how many users each company has, how active they are and what else is known about them. "It is alarming that we still know so little about companies that know so much about us." Policymakers and the public are in the dark about what social media and video streaming services do to capture and sell users' data and attention," FTC Commissioners Rohit Chopra, Rebecca Slaughter and Christine Wilson said in a statement. "Critical questions about business models, algorithms, and data collection and use have gone unanswered. The FTC's request for information covers a wide scope in order "to understand how business models influence what Americans hear and see, with whom they talk, and what information they share." The agency is using its authority under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which allows it to undertake broad studies separate from law enforcement. This order comes just a week after the FTC and 48 attorneys general across the country filed lawsuits against Facebook, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully maintaining a monopoly. Increased scrutiny by federal and state officials this year has pushed major social media websites and apps to answer for perceived improper uses of consumer data and violations of federal anti-monopoly law. The inquiry is the latest move by federal regulators to crack the whip on Big Tech in an attempt to monitor their activities. Representatives for the other companies didn't respond to NPR's request for comment. They added that the company makes no money from advertising, selling user data, or sharing users' personal information with others. In a statement to NPR, a representative for Discord said it "takes user privacy very seriously" and that the company looks forward to answering FTC's questions. ![]() The companies have 45 days to respond to the order. The Federal Trade Commission is demanding that nine social media and tech companies share details on how they harness users' data and what they do with the information.Ī, TikTok owner ByteDance, Discord, Facebook, Reddit, Snap, Twitter, WhatsApp (also owned by Facebook) and YouTube were sent orders by the FTC on Monday to provide the commission with details on their data collection and advertising practices. They must hand over information on how they harness user data. Amazon, and eight other social media and tech companies, received orders from the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. ![]()
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